BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 168|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 168
Author: Gaines (R) and Jackson (D), et al.
Amended: 9/10/15
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE FLOOR: 39-0, 8/31/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno,
Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach,
Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner, Stone,
Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: Not available
SUBJECT: Unmanned aircraft systems
SOURCE: California Police Chiefs Association
League of California Cities
DIGEST: This bill provides specified emergency responders with
immunity from civil liability for any damage to an unmanned
aircraft system, if the damage was caused while the emergency
responder was providing, and the unmanned aircraft system was
interfering with, the operation, support, or enabling of
specified emergency services. This bill also makes it unlawful
to knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly operate an unmanned
aircraft or unmanned aircraft system in a manner that prevents
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or delays the extinguishment of a fire, or in any way interferes
with the efforts of firefighters to control, contain, or
extinguish a fire, as specified.
Assembly Amendments 1) expand the bill to also apply to
emergency responders that are private entities, if acting within
the scope of authority implicitly or expressly provided by a
public entity or a public employee to provide emergency
services; and 2) make other clarifying changes.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Provides that every person is bound, without contract, to
abstain from injuring the person or property of another, or
infringing upon any of his or her rights.
2)Provides that everyone is responsible, not only for the result
of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury to another
caused by his or her lack of ordinary care or skill in the
management of his or her property or person, except so far as
the latter has, willfully or from lack of ordinary care,
brought the injury upon himself or herself.
3)Specifies, under the Government Tort Claims Act (Act), rules
of civil liability that apply to public entities and public
employees in California. The Act generally provides that all
public entities, state and local, are liable in tort to the
extent declared by statute, subject to stated immunities and
defenses. Public employees are liable to the same extent as
private persons, subject to various immunities and defenses.
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4)Defines, for purposes of that Act, a "public entity" to
include the state, the Regents of the University of
California, the Trustees of the California State University
and the California State University, a county, city, district,
public authority, public agency, and any other political
subdivision or public corporation in the State. Defines a
"public employee" to mean an employee of a public entity.
5)Governs, under the Act, the liability of public entities and
public employees with regard to fire protection. Provides,
generally, that neither a public agency nor public employee
acting in the scope of his employment is liable for any injury
resulting from the condition of fire protection or
firefighting equipment or facilities, or for any injury caused
fighting fires.
6)Provides that every person who willfully commits any of the
following acts at the burning of a building or at any other
time and place where any fireman or firemen or emergency
rescue personnel are discharging or attempting to discharge an
official duty, is guilty of a misdemeanor:
Resists or interferes with the lawful efforts of any
fireman or firemen or emergency rescue personnel in the
discharge or attempt to discharge an official duty;
Disobeys the lawful orders of any fireman or public
officer;
Engages in any disorderly conduct which delays or
prevents a fire from being timely extinguished; or
Forbids or prevents others from assisting in
extinguishing a fire or exhorts another person, as to whom
he has no legal right or obligation to protect or control,
from assisting in extinguishing a fire.
1)Provides that every person is guilty of a misdemeanor
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punishable by a fine of $100 to $1,000, who, at a forest fire
does any of the following:
Disobeys the lawful orders of any public officer or
fireman;
Offers any resistance to, or interference with, the
lawful efforts of any fireman or company of firemen to
extinguish the fire;
Engages in any disorderly conduct which is calculated to
prevent the fire from being extinguished;
Forbids, prevents, or dissuades others from assisting to
extinguish the fire; or
Rides, drives, or propels any vehicles or conveyance
upon, over, or across any firehose or chemical hose which
is used by, or in charge of, any public officer or fireman,
or injures or damages in any manner any such hose or
apparatus of any kind which is in use by, or in charge of,
any public or fireman.
1)Provides that every person who goes to the scene of an
emergency, or stops at the scene of an emergency, for the
purpose of viewing the scene or the activities of police
officers, firefighters, emergency medical, or other emergency
personnel, or military personnel coping with the emergency in
the course of their duties during the time it is necessary for
emergency vehicles or those personnel to be at the scene of
the emergency or to be moving to or from the scene of the
emergency for the purpose of protecting lives or property,
unless it is part of the duties of that person's employment to
view that scene or activities, and thereby impedes police
officers, firefighters, emergency medical, or other emergency
personnel or military personnel, in the performance of their
duties in coping with the emergency, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
2)Provides that for the purposes of the above, an emergency
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includes a condition or situation involving injury to persons,
damage to property, or peril to the safety of persons or
property, which results from a fire, an explosion, an airplane
crash, flooding, windstorm damage, a railroad accident, a
traffic accident, a power plant accident, a toxic chemical or
biological spill, or any other natural or human-caused event.
This bill:
1)Provides that it is unlawful to knowingly, intentionally, or
recklessly operate an unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft
system in a manner that prevents or delays the extinguishment
of a fire, or in any way interferes with the efforts of
firefighters to control, contain, or extinguish a fire,
including, but not limited to, efforts to control, contain, or
extinguish the fire from the air.
2)Makes a violation of the above punishable by imprisonment in a
county jail not to exceed six months, by a fine not to exceed
$5,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
3)Specifies under the Act that a public entity or public
employee shall not be liable for any damage to an unmanned
aircraft or unmanned aircraft system, if the damage was caused
while the public entity or public employee was providing, and
the unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system was
interfering with, the operation, support, or enabling of any
of the following emergency services:
Emergency medical services or ambulance transport
services, including, but not limited to, air ambulance
services;
Firefighting or firefighting-related services,
including, but not limited to, air services related to
firefighting or firefighting-related services; or
Search and rescue services, including, but not limited
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to, air search and rescue services.
1)Provides, additionally, under the Civil Code, that an
"emergency responder" shall not be liable for any damage an
unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system, if the damage
was caused while the emergency responder was providing, and
the unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system was
interfering with, the operation, support, or enabling of the
emergency services specified above. Defines, for these
purposes, "emergency responder" to include both paid and
unpaid volunteers, and private entities, if acting within the
scope of authority implicitly or expressly provided by a
public entity or a public employee to provide emergency
services.
2)Defines various terms for the above purposes, including:
"Unmanned aircraft system" means an unmanned aircraft
and associated elements, including, but not limited to,
communication links and the components that control the
unmanned aircraft that are required for the pilot in
command to operate safely and efficiently in the national
airspace system.
"Recklessly" means a person is aware of and consciously
disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his or
her act will prevent or delay the extinguishment of a fire,
or in any way interfere with the efforts of firefighters to
control, contain, or extinguish a fire, including, but not
limited to, efforts to control, contain, or extinguish the
fire from the air. The risk shall be of such nature and
degree that disregard of that risk constitutes a gross
deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable
person would observe in the situation. A person who
creates such a risk but is unaware of that risk solely by
reason of voluntary intoxication also acts recklessly for
these purposes.
1)Goes into effect immediately as an urgency measure.
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Background
As with most new technologies, the possibility of having
potentially thousands of commercial and private unmanned aerial
vehicles or "drones" take to California's skies in the coming
years has called into question how well state law is prepared to
incorporate these vehicles - and the policy issues associated
with their operation - into California's legal landscape. At
present, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the skies over
California is fairly restricted. Congress effectively closed
the national airspace to commercial drone flights in the Federal
Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012
(Modernization and Reform Act). (49 U.S.C. Sec. 40102(a)(32).)
That Act established a framework for safely integrating unmanned
aircraft into the national airspace no later than September 30,
2015. Until these vehicles can be safely integrated into our
airspace, federal law generally prohibits the commercial use of
drones.
While the Modernization and Reform Act does permit certain
commercial unmanned aircraft operations to take place before the
integration framework is implemented pursuant to special interim
requirements, to date, it appears that only a handful of
commercial operators have applied for, and received, permission
to fly commercial drones, including several film production
companies, construction, surveying, and inspection companies,
and a number of real estate firms. The Modernization and Reform
Act also sets out a separate interim operation exemption for
"public unmanned aircraft," allowing public agencies like police
departments to operate drones upon application, provided the
aircraft and their operators meet certain minimum standards.
(See Section 334 of the Modernization and Reform Act.) Unlike
commercial and public drone operations, flying an unmanned
aircraft "strictly for hobby or recreational use" is authorized
so long as the operator pilots the craft in accordance with
specific safety rules. (See Section 336 of the Modernization
and Reform Act.) As a result, most of the drones one sees in
California today are being piloted by private citizens.
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Of particular import to this bill are both the practical safety
considerations and the legal implications posed by drones and
their users when occupying the same space as emergency response
aircraft. To this end, news reports have focused in recent
months on instances where drones have interfered with the
ability of emergency responders to perform their jobs, such as
firefighting. As noted in a CNN article last month:
Of all the elements they must battle in a wildfire,
firefighters face a new foe: drones operated by enthusiasts
who presumably take close-up video of the disaster.
Five such "unmanned aircraft systems" prevented California
firefighters from dispatching helicopters with water buckets
for up to 20 minutes over a wildfire that roared Friday onto a
Los Angeles area freeway that leads to Las Vegas.
Helicopters couldn't drop water because five drones hovered
over the blaze, creating hazards in smoky winds for a deadly
midair disaster, officials said. (Martinez, Vercammen &
Brumfield, Above spectacular wildfire on freeway rises new
scourge: drones, CNN (Jul. 19, 2015)
Page 9
California fire official says, Los Angeles Times (Aug. 18, 2015)
Page 10
[Furthermore, c]urrent law does not provide explicit immunity
for emergency personnel who damage a drone that is interfering
with the emergency services. This bill will clearly state that
there is civil immunity in these situations. Impeding one
tanker drop could be the difference between life and death of
an individual or the loss of an entire neighborhood in flames.
Senate Bill 168 is an urgently needed and important piece of
legislation that will protect forests, property and the lives
of citizens and firefighters.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
Unknown with latest amendments.
SUPPORT: (Verified9/11/15)
California Police Chiefs Association (co-source)
League of California Cities (co-source)
Air and Surface Transport Nurses Association
California Ambulance Association
California Fire Chiefs Association
CAL FIRE Local 2881
California Professional Firefighters
California State Association of Counties
California State Firefighters Association
California State Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police
City of Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb
City of Dublin
City of Redding
County of Riverside
County of San Bernardino
County of San Diego
Emergency Nurses Association
Fire Districts Association of California
Long Beach Police Officers Association
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
LIUNA Local 792
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Orange County Fire Authority Board of Directors
Orange County Professional Firefighters Association, Local 3631
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified9/11/15)
None received
Prepared by:Ronak Daylami / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
9/11/15 21:22:07
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